1. Field
One or more aspects of embodiments according to the present invention relate to agricultural data gathering and planning, and more particularly to a tool for providing agricultural situational awareness.
2. Description of Related Art
In agriculture a farm operator may make a variety of decisions to improve crop yields, or to maximize profits. For example, the operator may set irrigation schedules or “prescriptions”, pesticide and fertilizer application prescriptions, and harvesting schedules. Each such decision may be more reliably made if informed by data about past, current, and predicted weather, current crop health, soil conditions, and the like.
An operator may obtain farm data from crop scouts, who may visit parts of the farm and make and record observations as to local crop and environmental conditions. If such a scout takes notes while surveying the farm, and returns to a central location to report to the operator, it may occur that a follow-up survey is required, to determine, for example the cause of an unexpected change in crop health, of which the scout, lacking information about past crop health, was unaware during the scouting operation. Such a process is inefficient. Thus, there is a need for a system and method for efficient gathering of agricultural data.